Am I A God?

A blonde with bright blue eyes rushed towards the men doubled over in pain.

“What’s wrong? Are you alright?”

The two men shouted at the same time, “No!”

Unfortunately, it was too late. The blonde had reached for them. A sick, scratching sound was heard as his now needle-sharp body hair tore through the seams of his shirt. He joined the men on the ground with a yelp. Blood had also started streaming from his pants.

With more and more of his men falling like dominoes, Faceless was called to the scene. He gawked at them.

“What is this? Why are they on the ground, bleeding all over themselves?” he asked.

He extended a hand to help one of the men up, but was immediately stopped by a bodyguard.

“Boss, you can’t touch them,” he warned, “Once you make contact with them, you’ll meet the same fate.”

Faceless retracted his hand as if he had touched a burning stove. There was a grave expression on his face as he turned to the bodyguard, “What happened to them exactly?”

A pause followed. The bodyguard leaned by his ear and explained the situation in hushed tones. As he spoke, Faceless’s eyes grew as round as marbles.

“You must be joking,” he said in disbelief, “How is it possible that such a stupid superpower exists?”

Lightning, who was hovering a short distance away, was deeply displeased by his words. He had brought even Zhao Yao to his knees! How dare this idiot deem his power stupid? Who did he think he was?

He started protesting indignantly, “Watch your mouth, weakling! Whose powers are you calling stupid? If you think you’re better than me, why don’t you come touch me and have a taste? Come, I dare you!”

As usual, not a person could understand what he was squawking about. All they could hear was impassioned meowing. The supercats in the warehouse, however, heard every word. These were the cats that would be auctioned off tonight.

“Who’s this guy?”

“I think he just defeated those Mao Gang men single-handedly.”

“Fools. That’s no cat. I’ve spent years collecting protection money at the seafood market, so I know my underwater creatures. That’s most definitely a sea urchin.”

The Pallas’s Cat King started to stir as the murmuring grew louder. His eyes snapped open. He looked around in disbelief. There were so many men immobile on the ground.

“Static Pallas’s Cat, is it you? Is this your work?” he called out, “Did you really… Have you really…”

“Yes,” Lightning replied simply.

More blood was running down his butt, but he remained perfectly poised. Even the arrogance in his voice was still there.

He explained to the King, “After you have passed your powers to me, I was awakened as the Super Pallas’s Cat. Do not fear. As long as I am here, the Mao Gang would not dare lay a finger on you.”

The Pallas’s Cat King was overcome with emotion when he spoke next, “I never thought I would live to see this d -,”

Meow!

Lightning interrupted him with a loud yowl. A few bodyguards had surrounded him, each one holding a baton. They used it to whack him repeatedly, shoving him out of the warehouse in the process.

The pain from the beatings, combined with the pins of hair stabbing his flesh, was unbearable. Lightning could not help the screams that escaped his mouth.

“Despicable! Ganging up on me with your batons! You’re nothing more than a bunch of scumbags! I dare you to hit me again!”

By then, the commotion had drawn a small crowd to gather by the entrance. The guests started whispering to each other as they cast furtive glances at the men on the floor and the blood that had pooled around them.

Faceless was quick to step up and offer an explanation, “Everyone, there’s no cause for concern. One of our supercats had attacked our staff, but everything is now under control. You can see for yourself how brutal this particular cat’s power is. The good news is this cat will up for auction tonight. Those of you who are interested stand a chance to take him home…”

Zhao Yao, who stood between the threshold of the doorway, heard Lightning’s screams as well. There was no way that he would allow those men to bully him.

Just as the bodyguards thought that there was no way out for the sea urchin, Zhao Yao extended his deflective field to grab Lightning. Then, he flung him across the room.

In an instant, Lightning had become a shadow that rocketed across the room, slicing through them as they screamed in agony. One by one, they fell to the floor, fresh blood splattering against the walls and the ground.

Lightning eventually fell as well with a thud. He had regained his composure by then.

“Weaklings,” he spat.

The Pallas’s Cat King watched the racket in awe.

“Such power!” he marveled, “The Super Pallas’s Cat is the paragon of strength! He can take down so many opponents at once!”

His daughter, Neoma, was cheering in excitement, “Lightning is the best!”

The cat in question could not help but giggle.

“My dear Neoma, you have seen nothing y – Ah!”

When Lightning exerted just an ounce of strength, his entire body was gripped with pain. He crumpled back onto the floor.

“Lightning, are you alright?” Neoma exclaimed.

He gritted his teeth and put up a front, “I’m fine, Neoma, just fine. Don’t talk to me. Don’t waste your time on me. I’m like a cloud drifting in the sky. I could never stay in one place or with one cat.”

“He is so cool,” she sighed, clearly infatuated.

Faceless, on the other hand, was far from impressed. His expression turned quite sour as he took in the dozens of people on the ground, among them guests.

“Where does this idiotic cat get his power from?” he wondered.

There was a glimmer in his eye when he noticed that there was a survivor left standing. One of his female bodyguards was still standing. Her blonde hair had stiffened and stood on their ends, very much like Goku’s when he went Super Saiyan. However, she did not look at all uncomfortable or hurt.

“This…” he muttered.

The gears in his mind clicked into place. He instructed the woman to grab Lightning. As he suspected, no harm came to her when she did so. She held the cat and brought him back into the warehouse with no difficulty.

Lightning was visibly in shock.

“How is this possible?” he thought, staring up at the woman, “How is she immune to my static powers? Who in the world are you?”

Faceless heaved a sigh of relief as the prickly cat disappeared from view.

“To think that such a power exists on our earth,” he mused, “Seems like I better get a full body wax after this. That’ll be one weakness taken care of.”

Having been captured by the enemy, Lightning started calling Zhao Yao for help. Unfortunately, he received no response because Zhao Yao’s attention was trained on Faceless’s mansion.

Pebble was back.

The boy had barely entered the house when he heard odd sounds from behind him. He turned around to see that his guards had fallen to the floor, fast asleep. Even the supercats in the pet carriers were passed out.

For some reason, Elizabeth’s power did not work on Pebble. Zhao Yao stepped out of the dimension doorway so he could take a closer look at him.

He tilted his head in question, “Hmm? Are you one of the Fantastic Four?”

Pebble did not look like he was made of flesh and bone. Instead, his body was constructed with little rocks and pebbles, much like The Thing. This could be why Elizabeth’s powers failed to affect him.

“Are you always in this state? Is it exhausting to maintain all of…that?” Zhao Yao continued.

Pebble did not bother gracing him with an answer.

Instead, he retorted, “Who are you? You must have a death wish to pick a fight with the Mao Gang.”

Zhao Yao responded by unleashing a blinding beam of golden light. A pair of palms appeared in its glow. They grabbed Pebble’s head and pummeled it into the ground.

In the next moment, the mansion began to crumble and come apart. Figures started running, leaping, and even flying out of the collapsing building.

Time stopped, then started again. When it did, the figures had all fallen to the ground like birds shot out the sky.